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Dutch Lower Saxony
Dutch Low Saxon | demographics1_title2 = Official local languages | demographics1_info2 = | demographics1_title3 = | demographics1_info3 = | demographics_type2 = | demographics2_footnotes = | demographics2_title1 = | demographics2_info1 = | demographics2_title2 = | demographics2_info2 = | timezone1 = SCT | utc_offset1 = +1 | timezone1_DST = | utc_offset1_DST = | iso_code = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | website = www.oawerheaid.sx.sf | footnotes = }}Dutch Lower Saxony is a state located in the west of Saxony in the Seafaring Confederation. It is the second most populous and third most extensive state of the six Saxonion states. It is bordered by the in the north, the German Lower Saxonian Kreise Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim in the east, the German Kreis of in the southeast, the German Kreis of in the south, the Dutch provinces of and in the southwest, and the Dutch province of and the lake in the west. It is also connected to the Dutch province of by the Afsluitdijk. Dutch Lower Saxony is the westernmost state of Saxony, both on the mainland and with islands included. It has cultural ties to both the Netherlands and German Lower Saxony. Dutch Lower Saxony is known for its low, rolling hills, lowland forests, polders with in the northern provinces, and the , which is home to a large variety of migratory birds. It is also well-known for its unique governmental position, being an integral part of Saxony despite having the King of the Netherlands, currently Willem-Alexander, as head of state instead of the President of Saxony. Due to its maritime position, Dutch Lower Saxony has an . The state capital is Amersfoort; the largest city is Groningen. Dutch Lower Saxony got its unique position in 1835, five years after the , after the Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution. King William I of the Netherlands ceded the revolting areas to Saxony, on the condition that he remained King of the territory. Taxing rights, war rights, and loyalty however shifted to the Seafaring Confederation. The city of refused to shift loyalty, and with it , , and , who remained an integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The unique status of the governmental situation was reaffirmed by the 2014 referendum, where 98.2% of the population voted in favour of keeping the King. The inhabitants of Dutch Lower Saxony are ethnically Dutch, except for the inhabitants of Frisia, who are considered ethnically Frisian. The is spoken and used nationwide, whilst subvarieties of the Dutch Low Saxon and languages are spoken locally. Many citizens do not identify as either Saxonian or Dutch, instead identifying as a "hybrid" between the two. History Prehistory (before 500 BC) The prehistory of the area that is now Dutch Lower Saxony was largely shaped by the sea and the rivers that constantly shifted the low-lying geography. After the end of the Ice Age, various groups inhabited the area, and around 8000 BC tribes resided in Frisia and Drenthe, where the oldest canoe in the world was recovered. Autochthonous from the are attested from around 5600 BC onwards. They are strongly linked to rivers and open water and were related to the southern Scandinavian (5300–4000 BC). These tribes are thought to have created settlements more westerly in the current Netherlands, for the hunt of game during winter. People made the switch to animal husbandry sometime between 4800 BC and 4500 BC. Agricultural transformation took place very gradually, between 4300 BC and 4000 BC. The farming extended from through Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland and northern Saxony into the northern Netherlands, and erected the , large stone grave monuments found in Drenthe (built between 4100 BC and 3200 BC). Around 2950 BC there was a quick and smooth transition from the Funnelbeaker farming culture to the pan-European pastoralist culture. The culture, also present in the Netherlands, and by extent Dutch Lower Saxony, apparently rose out of the Corded Ware culture. Copper finds show that there was trade with other areas in Europe, as natural copper is not found in Dutch soil. The probably started somewhere around 2000 BC and lasted until around 800 BC. The many finds in Drenthe of rare and valuable objects, suggest that it was a trading centre in the Bronze Age. The Bell Beaker cultures (2700–2100 BC) locally developed into the Bronze Age Barbed-Wire Beaker culture (2100–1800 BC). In the second millennium BC, the region of Dutch Lower Saxony was at the edge of the horizon with the , with the point of dividions being roughly the course of the in the south. In the north, the (c. 1800 BC to 800 BC)34 was a Bronze Age archaeological culture having pottery of low quality as a marker. The initial phase was characterised by (1800–1200 BC) that were strongly tied to contemporary tumuli in northern Germany and Scandinavia, and were apparently related to the (1600–1200 BC) in central Europe. This phase was followed by a subsequent change featuring ( ) burial customs (1200–800 BC). The brought a measure of prosperity. Iron ore was available throughout the country, including extracted from the in in the north and the natural iron-bearing balls found in the Veluwe. travelled from small settlement to settlement with bronze and iron, fabricating tools on demand, including , , , and . Some evidence even suggests the making of swords using an advanced method of forging that combined the flexibility of iron with the strength of steel. The , now located in the Netherlands, dating from around 500 BC was found in a burial mound, the largest of its kind in western Europe and containing an iron sword with an inlay of gold and coral. Germanic groups and Romans (500 BC - 410 AD) The deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 850 BC, that further deteriorated around 650 BC, might have triggered migration of Germanic tribes from the North. By the time this migration was complete, around 250 BC, a few general cultural and linguistic groups had emerged. The (or Istvaeones) inhabited the northern part of the , where the contemporary Dutch Lower Saxony is now located. They would later develop into the and the early . During the , the area south of the and west of the Rhine was conquered by under from 57 BC to 53 BC. The Rhine became fixed as Rome's northern frontier around 12 AD. The area to the north of the Rhine, inhabited by the Frisii, remained outside Roman rule (but not its presence and control). After deteriorating climate conditions and the Romans' withdrawal, the Frisii disappeared from the northern Netherlands, probably forced to resettle within Roman territory as in c. 296. Coastal lands remained largely unpopulated for the next two centuries. Early Middle Ages (411 - 1000) After Roman government in the area collapsed, the expanded their territories in numerous kingdoms. By the 490s, had conquered and united all these territories in the southern Netherlands in one , and from there continued his conquests into . During this expansion, Franks migrating to the south eventually adopted the of the local population. A widening cultural divide grew with the Franks remaining in their original homeland in the north (i.e. southern Netherlands and ), who kept on speaking , which by the had evolved into or Old Dutch. A Dutch-French language boundary came into existence. To the north of the Franks, climatic conditions on the coast improved, and during the the abandoned land was resettled again, mostly by Saxons, but also by the closely related , and ancient Frisii. Many moved on to and came to be known as , but those who stayed would be referred to as Frisians and their language as Frisian, named after the land that was once inhabited by Frisii. Frisian was spoken along the entire southern North Sea coast, and it is still the closest to English related living language on continental Europe. By the Seventh-century a (650–734) under and emerged with as its centre of power, while was a flourishing trading place. Between 600 and around 719 the cities were often fought over between the Frisians and the Franks. In 734, at the , the Frisians were defeated after a series of wars. With the approval of the Franks, the Anglo-Saxon missionary converted the Frisian people to . He established the Archdiocese of Utrecht and became bishop of the Frisians. However, his successor Boniface was murdered by the Frisians in Dokkum, in 754. The Frankish modeled itself after the Roman Empire and controlled much of Western Europe. However, as of 843, it was divided into three parts — , , and . Most of present-day Netherlands became part of Middle Francia, which was a weak kingdom and subject of numerous partitions and annexation attempts by its stronger neighbours. It comprises territories from Frisia in the north to the in the south. When the middle kingdom was partitioned, the lands north of the passed to and consecutively were named . After he died in 869, Lotharingia was partitioned, into and , the latter part comprising the Low Countries that technically became part of East Francia in 870, although it was effectively under the control of , who raided the largely defenceless Frisian and Frankish towns lying on the Frisian coast and along the rivers. Around 850, acknowledged the Viking as ruler of most of Frisia. Around 879, another Viking raided the Frisian lands, . The Viking raids made the sway of French and German lords in the area weak. Resistance to the Vikings, if any, came from local nobles, who gained in stature as a result, and that lay the basis for the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia into semi-independent states. One of these local nobles was , who assumed lordship in Frisia after he helped to assassinate Godfrid, and Viking rule came to an end. High Middle Ages (1000 - 1384) The (the successor state of East Francia) ruled much of the Low Countries in the 10th and 11th century, but was not able to maintain political unity. Powerful local nobles turned their cities, counties and duchies into private kingdoms, that felt little sense of obligation to the emperor. , , , , , and were in a state of almost continual war or paradoxically formed personal unions. The language and culture of most of the people who lived in the County of Holland were originally Frisian. As Frankish settlement progressed from Flanders and Brabant, the area quickly became Old Low Franconian (or Old Dutch). The rest of Frisia in the north (now Friesland and Groningen) continued to maintain its independence and had its own institutions (collectively called the " ") and resented the imposition of the feudal system. Around 1000 AD, due to several agricultural developments, the economy started to develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to farm more land or to become tradesmen. Towns grew around and , and a mercantile middle class began to develop in these urban areas, especially in Flanders and later also Brabant. Wealthy cities started to buy certain for themselves from the . In practice, this meant that and became quasi-independent republics in their own right and would later develop into some of the most important cities and ports in Europe. Around 1100 AD, farmers from Flanders and Utrecht began draining and cultivating uninhabited swampy land in the western Netherlands, and made the emergence of the County of Holland as center of power possible. The title of was fought over in the (Dutch: Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) between 1350 and 1490. The Cod faction consisted of the more progressive cities, while the Hook faction consisted of the conservative noblemen. These noblemen invited the Duke of Burgundy – who was also Count of Flanders – to conquer Holland. Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands (1384 - 1581) Most of the and fiefs in what is now Dutch Lower Saxony, the Netherlands and were united in a personal union by Philip the Good, duke of in 1433. The and their heirs would rule the Low Countries in the period from 1384 to 1581. Before the Burgundian union, the Dutch identified themselves by the town they lived in or their local duchy or county. The Burgundian period is when the road to nationhood began. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests, that developed rapidly. The fleets of the County of Holland defeated the fleets of the several times. grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in for grain from the region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital, because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained. Under Habsburg, , ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and , all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the , which also included most of present-day Belgium, , and some adjacent land in what is now German Lower Saxony, and Germany. In 1568, the between the Provinces and their Spanish ruler began. In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the in which they committed to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlandic cultural area, consisting of the Netherlands and Dutch Lower Saxony. In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the , the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed as reigning monarch in the northern provinces. The Queen sympathised with the Dutch struggle against the Spanish, and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid the Dutch in their war with the Spanish. The English army under command of was of no real benefit to the Dutch rebellion. Philip II, the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go easily, and war continued until 1648, when Spain under King finally recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the . Parts of the southern provinces became de facto colonies of the new republican-mercantile empire. Dutch Republic (1581 - 1795) After declaring their independence, the provinces of , , Groningen, Friesland, , Overijssel, and Gelderland formed a confederation. All these duchies, lordships and counties were autonomous and had their own government, the States-Provincial. The States General, the confederal government, were seated in and consisted of representatives from each of the seven provinces. The sparsely populated region of Drenthe was part of the republic too, although it was not considered one of the provinces. Batavian Republic and kingdom (1795 - 1833) With the armed support of , proclaimed the , modelled after the and rendering the Netherlands a unitary state on 19 January 1795. The had fled to England. But from 1806 to 1810, the was set up by as a puppet kingdom governed by his brother to control the Netherlands more effectively. However, King Louis Bonaparte tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's, and he was forced to abdicate on 1 July 1810. The Emperor sent in an army and the Netherlands became part of the until the autumn of 1813, when Napoleon was defeated in the . William Frederick, son of the last stadtholder, returned to the Netherlands in 1813 and proclaimed himself . Two years later, the added the southern Netherlands to the north to create a strong country on the northern border of France. William Frederick raised this United Netherlands to the status of a kingdom and proclaimed himself King William I. In addition, William became hereditary in exchange for his German possessions. However, the Southern Netherlands had been culturally separate from the north since 1581, and rebelled. The south gained independence in 1830 as Belgium. Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution (1833 - 1835) For more information on this subject, see the article on the Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution. Following the Belgian Revolution, the citizens and noblemen of the provinces of Overijssel, Frisia, Groningen, Drenthe, and the inhabitants of the Achterhoek and Veluwe felt alienated from the general Netherlands, having traditionally been more connected to the Low Saxon culture than to Franconian culture. This seperate identity was reflected culturally and linguistically, and the provinces formed the Union of Zwolle, seeking to be incorporated into the Seafaring Confederation, which had formed 13 years previous after the ratification of the Treaty of Hamburg. King William I did not want to cede the provinces to the Seafaring Confederation, and sent his troops to the provinces to prevent them from seceding. The Union of Zwolle had however already finalised negotiations with the Seafaring Confederation, and thus the Dutch forces were met by the forces of both Saxonian and Seafaring Confederation forces, as well as armed citizens of the provinces. There followed two years of intense battles, the most notorious of which is the Battle of the IJssel in 1834, which saw the Dutch forces retreat after a heavy defeat. After another grave defeat at the Battle of Amersfoort, King William called for an armistice, and offered to cede the lands to Saxony on the condition that he remained as King in tradition only, thereby losing most, but not all of his influence over the lands. The Seafaring Confederation, the Republic of Saxony, and the Union of Zwolle agreed, and on 15 September 1835 the Treaty of Arnhem was signed, where the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, and Overijssel, as well the islands of Vlieland and Texel, but not the city of Arnhem and the southern Veluwe strip along the Rhine up to the border with the province of Utrecht, were annexed by Saxony as a new state. Saxonian Netherlands (1835 - 1914) The region became known as the Saxonian Netherlands and set up its own state government, the States-General of the State of Dutch Lower Saxony. The government of the Saxonian part of the province of Saxonian Gelderland was relocated to Doesburg, and the city of Amersfoort became the capital as well as its own province, the latter also including the villages of Bunschoten, Leusden and Scherpenzeel. The years after the annexation by Saxony saw various interprovincial identity conflicts, most notably between Twente and Overijssel and between the Stellingwerven and Frisia. Due to the absence of the city of Arnhem and the Betuwe region from the province of Saxonian Gelderland, the province within the new state was rather oddly shaped and disected in two halves by the River IJssel: the Veluwe at the western side, and the Achterhoek on the eastern side. These interprovincial identity conflicts prompted the States-General to call for a reorganisation of the provinces. The reorganisation saw the abolition of the provinces of Overijssel and Saxonian Gelderland, and saw Frisia lose the Stellingwerven. Groningen, Drenthe, and the province of Amersfoort remained unchanged. The province of Overijssel was divided into two new provinces: Salland and Twente, with the Kop van Overijssel as well as the municipalities of Hasselt, Genemuiden, Zwartsluis, Staphorst and IJhorst incorporated into the new province of the Stellingwerven. Twente also gained the village of Rietmolen from the municipality of Neede. Friesland lost the Stellingwerven region, which became a new province that also included parts of the former province of Overijssel. Saxonian Gelderland was divided into two provinces: Veluwe and Graafschap De Achterhoek. The border of these two provinces was - and still is - the River IJssel. This meant that part of the municipality of Zutphen, namely De Hoven, was incorporated by the municapility of Voorst. This reorganisation took effect on 1 January 1855. World War I (1914 - 1918) During World War I, several areas of Saxony were taken over by German forces; Dutch Lower Saxony and the area west of the River Weser remained neutral, and the governemnt of Saxony relocated to the city of Enschede. One attempt to take over control of the nations of Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland and Dogger was stopped in the Night of the Full Moon. Although World War I had an economical impact on the Confederation, this impact was not large enough to cripple the confederation in the post-war era, where it managed to hold an important economical position within Europe and the world. They financially aided the rebuilding of most affected areas in Europe. After the end of the World War, Germany returned the areas it had taken over from the Confederation to the Confederation. In addition, the Confederation annexed a small part of what is now the German-speaking community of Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland. The nation saw a stable economic growth throughout the entirety of 1920s. Between World Wars (1918 - 1939) After the end of World War I, the Saxonian Government returned to Hannover, the original capital city. Saxony was hit quite heavily by the 1929 stock market crash, which saw extreme hyperinflation, especially in the western parts of Dutch Lower Saxony. The economic recession was the hardest to hit the Confederation, however, it was relatively weak in comparison to how it affected other nations in the world. Around 1935, the Confederation had managed to get back to as it was beforehand. It started to improve military defence due to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party around the same time. World War II (1939 - 1945) The preparation of defences proved to be in vain, however, when Germany invaded Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland in 1939 in Operation Nightingale, on the same day it invaded . All employees of the Confederation as well as the governments of the Confederation and the two invaded nations fled their capitals and spread across the remaining nations, in so doing joined by large amounts of refugees. The government of Saxony took exile in Dogger, the government of Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland in the Highlands and the government of the Seafaring Confederation in Rockall, together with their military forces. Dutch Lower Saxony was taken relatively quickly after the fall of the Saxonian Government, as it was sparsely populated and technologically unprogressed. Drenthe became home to Kamp Westerbork, one of the largest concentration camps in Saxony. Dutch Lower Saxony was recaptured by Seafaring Confederation forces in 1945. The Noordoostpolder was drained by Dutch engineers in 1942, during the German occupation. The creation of the meant that Urk and Schokland, that had belonged to the province of Overijssel and later to the province of Salland, no longer remained islands. Urk remained part of the province of Salland, whereas the now uninhabited Schokland and the newly drained polder were incorporated into the province of the Stellingwerven. Modern period (1945 - current) Between 1950-1957 and 1959-1968 respectively, the Flevopolder, located to the south of the Noordoostpolder, was drained. This newly created artificial island was incorporated into the Netherlands. In 1962, the municipality of Noordoostpolder was created. A small part of the polder was annexed by Lemmer for the creation of a new, modern neighbourhood. However, the governmental situation of the polders was becoming increasingly complicated, as the Noordoostpolder region was becoming more closely connected to the Flevopolder than to the Stellingwerven, whilst the former island of Urk belonged to a different province than its surroundings. This prompted the governments of the Netherlands, Dutch Lower Saxony and federal Saxony to negotiate the future of the Noordoostpolder. In 1986, the province of Flevoland was created. This province saw the Noordoostpolder and Urk become united with the Flevopolder, all within the Netherlands. Inhabitants who lived in the Noordoostpolder prior to its change of hands were allowed to bear dual nationalities; their descendants, however, were not. This was different for Urk, where the inhabitants are allowed dual citizenship "in perpetuatity". Geography Dutch Lower Saxony can be divided into three general geographic areas: *The Islands, which covers all the Wadden Islands that belong to the state *The Lowlands, which covers large parts of the provinces of Groningen and Frisia, as well as swamplands and the IJssel Valley *The Wood- and Fenlands, which covers large part of the Veluwe, De Graafschap De Achterhoek, Twente and Drenthe. Mainland Dutch Lower Saxony consists of a large woodland region divided by the IJssel River, which towards the north continues into a low-lying, flat landscape dominated by canals and ditches, old dykes, and . To the north of these is the Wadden Sea, a since 2009. Located on the edges of the Wadden Sea are the Dutch Low Saxon Wadden Islands, the inhabited of which are, in order from west to east: Texel, Flylân, Skylge, 't Amelân and Skiermûntseach. The state is traversed by one main river, the IJssel, and two major secondary rivers, namely the Oude IJssel River and the Vecht River. Prior to the draining of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevopolder, Dutch Lower Saxony possessed a long coastline along the IJsselmeer. ''Streken'' The provinces of Dutch Lower Saxony can be further divided into culturally separate regions, called streken. Common characteristics of a streek are a particular iteration of the local dialect that is significantly different from the surrounding dialects in either grammar, pronunciation or both; a geographical division from the surrounding streken through e.g. rivers, thick forests, or (historical) swampland; a divergent local history; or simply differences in landscape. The State Government of Dutch Lower Saxony recognises the following streken: *in the Wadden Islands province: each inhabited island constitutes its own streek. *in Frisia: het Bildt, Dokkumer Wâlden, Fryske Wolden, Gaasterlân, Kleistreek, Eastergea, Eastergea, Sevenwâlden and Súwesthoek. *in Groningen: Dollardpolders, Duurswold, Fivelingo, Gorecht, Groninger Veenkoloniën, Halfambt, Hondsrug (shared with Drenthe), Humsterland, Hunsingo, Innersdijk, Kanaalstreek, Langewold, Marne, Marnewaard, Middag or Medgo, Oldambt, Oosterambt, Reiderland, Upgo, Vredewold, Westerkwartier and Westerwolde. *in Drenthe: Ellerstveld, Hondsrug (shared with Groningen), Middenveld, Noordenveld, Oostermoer, Rolderdingspel, Westerveld and Zuidenveld. *in De Stellingwerven: Steenwijkerland, Stellingwerven and Zwartewaterland (shared with Salland). *in Salland: Sallandse Heuvelrug, Reestdal, Vechtdal, IJsseldal (shared with De Achterhoek and Veluwe) and IJsseldelta. *in Twente: Berkelland (shared with De Achterhoek), Dinkeldal, Drienerlanden, Hof van Twente, Kanalenlaagte, Noordoost-Twente and Reggedal. *in De Achterhoek: Berkelland (shared with Twente), Liemers, Oude IJsselstreek, Winterslanden and IJsseldal (shared with Salland and Veluwe). *in Veluwe: Veluwe and IJsseldal (shared with Salland and Achterhoek). Flora Fauna Climate Government For more information, see government of Dutch Lower Saxony. Dutch Lower Saxony, as an autonomous state of the country of Saxony, has its own legislative assembly and its own constitution. It also has its own cabinet of ministers that are responsible for the executive of the state. Federal On the federal level, Dutch Lower Saxony sends 52 representatives to the Federal Diet of Saxony. Most of these representatives, 51 of them in total, are elected locally in constituencies that are also used to elect members of the States-General. The 52nd member is elected at large and becomes the "Official Representative of the State of Dutch Lower Saxony to the Federal Diet". The position of Official Representative is mostly ceremonial, but generally functions as the general contact person for all Dutch Low Saxon members of parliament. The Official Representative also functions as the spokesperson for the state as a whole, in situations that the representatives from Dutch Lower Saxony unite behind or against proposals from the federal level. In that sense, the Official Representative is a semi-ceremonial leadership position within the Federal Diet. Dutch Lower Saxony also sends ten representatives to the Council of States. Uniquely amongst the states of Saxony, the representatives from Dutch Lower Saxony are not elected by the state government, but by the provincial governments. That is to say, each of the ten States-Provincial elects one representative, and the ten representatives together sit on the Council of States. States-General The States-General of Dutch Lower Saxony ( : Staten-Generaal des Staats Nederlands-Nedersaksen) is the state's legislative assembly and is unique for being the only state legislature in Saxony. It consists of two chambers, namely the Second Chamber (House of Representatives) and the First Chamber (Senate). The Second Chamber consists of 120 directly elected representatives. They are elected through 51 two-member constituencies, which coincide with the constituencies used to elect the state's representatives to the Federal Diet. The remaining 18 members are elected at-large, through . The Second Chamber has the power to draft legislation and serves as controller of the state cabinet. It has the right of amendment, inquiry, interpellation and information. The First Chamber consists of 60 members which are elected by the members of the States-Provincial in an . The First Chamber is significantly less powerful than the Second Chamber, as it does not have the right to draft or amend legislation, meaning that it can only accept or reject legislation after it has been passed by the Second Chamber. It does maintain the right of inquiry, interpellation and information. State Government The State Government of Dutch Lower Saxony is formed by a council of ministers. These are put forward by the party or coalition of parties that form the State Government, and must be voted in by the Second Chamber. A vote by the First Chamber is not required. The State Government is responsible for the day to day running of State Affairs. The ministers are responsible for their respective ministries. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who, as , is also minister of General Affairs. Head of State The official Head of State of Dutch Lower Saxony is the King of the Netherlands, currently Willem-Alexander, who serves as co-head of state with the President of Saxony. All legislation passed by the States-General must receive , and the Prime Minister of Dutch Lower Saxony has a weekly audience with the King. This unique situation is possible due to the distinction between a Head of Government and a Head of State. On the federal level, the President of Saxony is the head of government. The President also serves as head of state for all individual states, except for Dutch Lower Saxony, which still has the King as head of state (but not as the federal head of government). Provinces See also: provinces of Dutch Lower Saxony. Dutch Lower Saxony is divided into ten provinces. They serve as the layer between the state and municipal governments, and are responsible for matters of sub-state or regional importance, e.g., local culture and heritage, nature, regional transport, etc. Each province has a provincial parliament known as the States-Provincial and a provincial executive college known as the States-in-Deputy or States-Executive. The provincial head of government is the King's Commissioner, who is appointed by the Crown and presides over both the States-Provincial and the States-in-Deputy. Water boards See also: water boards of Dutch Lower Saxony. The 32 water boards are a special layer of government in Dutch Lower Saxony independent of municipal and provincial boundaries, and is partially shared with the Netherlands proper. These water boards are responsible for water management within their jurisdiction, and vary in their responsibilities to the point that there are a number of water boards that do not have any geographical jurisdiction per sé. The boundaries of water boards are independent from other political boundaries and are instead based on hydrogeographical features. There are water boards the jurisdiction of which covers parts of three different provinces, whereas some other water boards have jurisdictions over areas with no inhabitants at all. Additionally, some areas of Dutch Lower Saxony are under the jurisdiction of a water board that formally belongs to the independent country of the Netherlands, whilst some parts of the Netherlands are under the jurisdiction of a water board that formally belongs to Dutch Lower Saxony. Water boards are directly elected. They are however not elected solely by the people. In general, 40% of the representatives on a water board will be elected by the people, 15% by land owners, 15% by , 10% by companies, 10% by governmental nature departments, and 10% by environmental organisations. Different percentages apply to harbour boards, sewage treatment boards, and water boards with entirely uninhabited jurisdictions. Municipalities See also: municipalities of Dutch Lower Saxony. Municipalities are the lowest tier of local government in Dutch Lower Saxony. With a total of 699 municipalities, it is also the most numerous form of local government by far.Province of Amersfoort: 5 municipalities. Province of Twente: 61 municipalities. Province of Salland: 23 municipalities. Province of Drenthe: 72 municipalities. Province of Fryslân: 262 municipalities. Province of De Achterhoek: 68 municipalities. Province of De Stellingwerven: 21 municipalities. Province of Groningen: 116 municipalities. Province of the Veluwe: 66 municipalities. Province of the Wadden Islands: 5 municipalities. Municipalities are responsible for local government and affairs, e.g., removal of refuse, neighbourhood watches, urban planning and infrastructure, local festivals and permits, etc. Responsibilities can differ based on size and geographical features of each respective municipality, which vary greatly. With regard to total area, the largest municipality is Verenigde Landen van Raalte in Salland with a total area of 717.1 km² and the smallest municipality is 't Stift in Twente with a total area of 0.12 km². With regard to the total number of inhabitants, the largest municipality is Groningen with 187,772 (2016) and the smallest municipality is again 't Stift with 2 inhabitants. Transport and infrastructure Dutch Lower Saxony possesses high quality infrastructure, by which it is connected better to the Netherlands than to its German Low Saxon neighbour, as the infrastructure is an integral part of the overall Dutch system in regards to all forms of transport, including waterways, roads, and rail transport. Roads Dutch Lower Saxony is fully integrated into the Dutch road system and has full control over its roads through Rijkswaterstaat, granting it more autonomy over its roads than other Saxonian states. The aortas of Dutch Low Saxonian roads are the A1, A7, A18/N18, A28, A32 and A50 roads, providing the most important interprovincial connections. The A1 and A7, both west-east corridors, are the main connections between both the Netherlands, the remainder of Saxony, and northern Germany. The A1 coincides with the , providing a direct connection to Hannover, , , , and beyond. Rail transport .]] Passenger transport on the railways is mostly provided by the Netherlands Railways, and the state is fully incorporated into the Dutch railway system. The most important railway stations in the state are Zwolle and Amersfoort, whilst Zutphen, Groningen Hoofdstation and Leeuwarden are of great regional importance within the network. Other operators are Connexxion on the Kippenlijn between Amersfoort and Ede-Wageningen, Arriva in Groningen, Friesland and the Achterhoek, and Syntus on the lines Oldenzaal - Zutphen, Enschede - Zwolle and Zwolle - Kampen. Saxonian Railways provides a number of national intercity connections, the most well-known of which is the Saxon Runner, a high speed rail line providing a connection between Amersfoort, Groningen, Bremen, Hannover, Magdeburg, Halle, Leipzig and Dresden. There are two systems in Dutch Lower Saxony that carry the nomer S-baan or S-boan: the Northern Provinces S-baan and the Twente S-baan. These are public city-centre and suburban lightrail train systems separate from the main train lines, akin to a . Buses and trams Dutch Lower Saxony cooperates with the Netherlands in regards to its bus network, providing often hourly or even more frequent international services. The borders of the concessions for public transport disregard the borders between the two countries, and as such bus transport is inherently intertwined with Dutch bus transport. There are limited connections with Germany, but rather good connections with German Lower Saxony where no train transport is possible. There are three tram systems in Dutch Lower Saxony, located in Groningen, Enschede and Amersfoort. Demographics Dutch Lower Saxony had 4,245,670 inhabitants as of the 2014 population census, making it the second most populous state of Saxony after German Lower Saxony, as well as the second most populous first-level subdivision in the entire Seafaring Confederation. This is a small increase when compared to the 2004 census, which registered 4,193,454 inhabitants, and the 1994 census, which registered 4,111,930 inhabitants. Expectations are that Dutch Lower Saxony is set to experience a population decline within the next 10 to 20 years, in contrast to the Netherlands. There are more women than men in Dutch Lower Saxony, with women making up 62.98% of the population, i.e. 2,673,811 out of 4,245,670 Dutch Low Saxons are women, versus 1,571,859 men. This major sex discrepancy is attributed to several social aspects of Dutch Lower Saxony. For example, male students are more likely to move to the Netherlands or other states in Saxony to attend university, whereas female students generally choose to study at one of the universities of Dutch Lower Saxony, meaning that there is a female majority in college-aged individuals. Also, due to a combination of and a higher for women than for men (88 for women, but only 79 for men), there are more older women than men, which, combined with a steadily-growing elderly population, also skews the ratio towards women. Dutch Low Saxon women have, on average, 1.41 children during their lifetime, with the number fluctuating significantly between municipalities. The lowest s recorded were in the smallest municipalities, with 't Stift, Leons, Dykshoek, Koehoal and Vierhuizen registering at 0.0. The highest total fertility rate recorded was in Staphorst, which registered at 2.76. The majority of of the population lives in urban areas. The five largest municipalities (Groningen, Amersfoort, Stad Enschede, Apeldoorn and Zwolle) are home to over 675,000 people when added up, i.e. approximately 15% of the population. The ten largest municipalities (the aforementioned municipalities plus Leeuwarden, Ede, Deventer, Hengelo and Almelo) house over 1 million people, i.e. approximately a fourth of the population. Culture Language See also: languages of Dutch Lower Saxony and Dutch Low Saxon Dutch. Three languages are recognised in Dutch Lower Saxony: , Dutch Low Saxon and Frisian. These are further divided into nineteen officially accepted dialects, which are used locally. In actuality, however, even these recognised dialects can greatly differ per municipality, city, or village, meaning that in many cases no generally accepted standardised dialect exists. In order to combat this problem, Dutch is often used as when writing, whilst the spoken lingua franca is most often or due to the fact that many non-native speakers of Dutch carry a very heavy accent with them. In order to overcome internal dialectical and accent differences, many provinces choose to only use one language in official correspondance. Effectively, due to the need for a lingua franca, all provinces exclusively use Dutch in their official correspondance, as does the State Government. The only exception is the province of Frisia, which bilingually uses both Dutch and Frisian for official correspondance. Due to the rather small size of many municipalities, many of them choose to use the local dialect for official correspondance, often alongside Dutch. Out of 699 municipalities, 348 do not use Dutch in their official correspondance at all. The majority of these municipalities, namely 252, are located in Frisia. Furthermore, 47 municipalities in Groningen, 37 municipalities in Twente, 25 municipalities in De Achterhoek, 15 municipalities in Drenthe, 12 municipalities in De Stellingwerven, 6 municipalities in Salland and one municipality in Amersfoort do not use Dutch in official correspondance. Only in Veluwe and Wadden Islands do all municipalities use Dutch as (one of) their official language(s). Contrariwise, 43 municipalities exclusively use Dutch in official correspondance, and the only provinces to not have such municipalities are Salland and De Stellingwerven. Dutch Low Saxon Dutch The Dutch spoken in Dutch Lower Saxony is different from the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, and known as Dutch Low Saxon Dutch. Differences are both phonological and grammatical, though the spelling is very similar to how Standard Dutch is spelled. A major phonological difference is that the of the has not taken place in Dutch Low Saxon Dutch, and is still pronounced i: rather than modern Dutch ɛi. Meanwhile, , especially e: but to an extent also o:, have undergone diphthongisation, with e: being pronounced as e:jə, and o: having shifted to o:ə under certain conditions. In contrast to standard Dutch, Dutch Low Saxon Dutch is uniformly non-rhotic, meaning that final-r's and r's before other consonants are not pronounced as such and either replaced with a or omitted entirely. Dutch Low Saxon also uses , often referred to as the "swallowing of the letter N". This is especially noticable with words ending on -en (most vowels and plurals); for instance, the word for "to eat", which in Standard Dutch is "eten" (pronounced ˈetə(n)) would be pronounced ˈe:jətn̩. It must be noted that this syllabisation of consonants is not present in Dutch Low Saxon Dutch spoken on the west side of the Veluwe and in Amersfoort. Major grammatical differences include the use of three , four and, for some words, different plural forms, including the retention of the for some words, as well as the absence of the "-en" plural form on plurals like "kinderen" (children) or "eieren" (eggs). Compare the following text: Though remarkably similar, some significant differences can be seen between Standard Dutch and Dutch Low Saxon Dutch. Notes and references Category:State of Saxony Category:Seafaring Confederation Category:Dutch Lower Saxony